Craft: How to Sew an Easy Skirt With Scrappy Fabric

by Carissa Rogers on May 30th, 2019 | No Comments »

My daughters are learning to sew! This past Christmas my daughters (11 and 14 years old) had an ‘A-Ha’ moment when they realized they could create super cute, super fun and super easy sewing projects as gifts for their many … many friends.

And, as it turns out, having a mom with a defunct custom fabric tote-bag business (with a lot of leftover scraps of fabric) is the perfect combination for learning to sew.

How to Make a Skirt

Both daughters have learned to make uber simple skirts with nothing more than a wide rectangle piece of scrap fabric and elastic.

Supplies:

Fabric - 35-45” wide x 20-30” for young girls OR two rectangles 25-30” wide with 2 side seams for older kids or mom
Elastic

Directions:

First, sew the short side of the long rectangle together (right sides together). Then hem the bottom (fold over a quarter inch and iron, then fold it again another quarter inch and sew along the upper edge of the fold). The elastic casing at the top is a tiny bit harder. (See instructions below)

Easy Skirt Waistband Tutorial

Fold over the top of your skirt at least ¾ to 1 inch wider than your elastic. If elastic is ½ inch then fold 1.5 inches. Iron. Then fold over the upper edge a quarter inch and iron as well.
Sew as close to the edge of the inside fold of the waist casing as you can manage. Start stitching one inch away from a side or back seam (backstitching well). End the stitch one inch away from the same side or back seam (backstitching there, as well). This leaves a wide enough hole to thread your elastic through.
Cut your elastic to fit your daughter's—or your—waist. Cut it to fit snug but not tight around your waist. Add 1 to 2 inches additional to the length of measured elastic.
Using a safety pin attached to one end of your elastic, fuss and stretch and smoosh the pin through the waistband casing. Make sure to keep hold of the back end of the elastic so it doesn’t slip inside the casing!
Pull both ends of the elastic through the hole in the casing and overlap about one inch. Then stitch the ends together with several lines of stitches.
Allow the elastic to slip back into the casing and finish—with your sewing machine (I rarely hand stitch!)—the open hole as close to the edge as you can. Done!

Your girls can wear these skirts longer by itself or shorter with leggings.

Riley Blake Designs Scrappy Fabrics

Imagine you had six different fabrics from the Riley Blake Designs Millie’s Closet selection to play with? What would you make? You would create a skirt, of course! That’s what we did! I am in LOVE with the sky blue, reds and pinks in these fabrics. Millie’s Closet is the perfect palette for a ‘Scrappy Skirt’!

We’re making a "Scrappy Skirt" from a simple Little Bit Funky pattern. For $5 (simply downloaded via PDF), this pattern packs a punch. It explains how to easily create the scrappy "strips of fabric" skirt style. It also explains how to sew the strips together, how to make a small skirt with only one seam in the back and a larger skirt with two side seams and, of course, the easy elastic waistband casing. The whole thing is extremely versatile. If you have a few different fabrics or a whole bunch, you can mix and match and have a blast with this summer-y pattern!

Voilá! You can do this!

What will you make with Riley Blake Fabric?

I would love to see your fabric creations! Please share your creativeness in photos via Pinterest or Facebook with us!

In a former life, Carissa Rogers was a molecular biologist. In her current life, she is the chief researcher of bloggy karma, parenting dos (and some don’ts), new recipes, and for spice she pretends to be a photographer. Carissa writes freelance for the 'goodncrazy' of it! She started blogging in February of 2008 and publishes her good & crazy thoughts on GoodNCrazy.com. Also find her on Twitter and Facebook.